So It Began
by StarWitch
Summary: In a different universe, Earth is receiving its first Rangers. Now if they could just work together... violenceabuselanguage
1. Confusion

Hi, everyone!  For those who don't know me, I'm StarWitch.  For those who do, I'm sorry, I know I should work on my other stories.  However, I'm still in fantasy writer's block.  Sorry again.  Inspiration appreciated!  Love ya all!

Note:  In this world, almost everyone has magic.  As a result, some events are different.  The warrior houses of the world still exist, for example, and are in call as assassins and guards.  Basic laws exist to deal with magic too, but, as someone once said, rules were made to be broken.  Rangers, seemingly outside the normal range of magic, are hated and feared.  This is, in most people's minds, the beginning of the alien invasion wanting to channel the Earth's magic and resources.  However, the Rangers keep on disappearing before anyone can trap them.  Which means only the tabloids say they know the Rangers' identities…

Disclaimer:  The concept of Power Rangers does not belong to me; it's Saban's.  The idea of other universes doesn't belong to me, it belongs to every escapist.  The people and this universe, however, are mine.  Please ask before using!

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**So It Began….**

"Um, so I guess B equals 24," Alex Trent said, then glanced up at Mick.  "That's right?"

The boy shrugged the worn-out material of his black leather jacket hissing as he moved.  "Far as I can tell."

Alex groaned and shoved at her thick tangle of blond curls.  Her delicate features rumpled as she winkled her nose at the pungent aroma of the nearby garbage bin encroaching on her studying space.  "Today just won't go right, will it?" Alec commented with a wry smile.  Mick nodded, returning a rueful, grin of his own.  Their eyes met and the connection between them flowed for a moment.

Alex grinned at her best friend.  The day had gone wrong for both of them, beginning with Alex oversleeping and coming in late to her first period bio test and continuing with a pile of gangers who slammed Mick against the lockers between second and third periods.  Even now they had been shoved out of their usual study spot by a pile of popular people in a make-out session, leaving them, the two outcasts, by the garbage bin.  Still, it was last period, they were outside, and the teacher was berating the kids in the make-out session.

The teacher finished scolding and the teens stalked away.  As Alex watched, one muscle-bound jock shoved over a tall Hispanic kid.  He went sprawling and didn't get up.  The jock laughed and continued toward the parking lot, apparently headed for his car.  Alex, ticked off at jocks anyway, shoved the math textbook off her lap and headed towards the fallen boy, ignoring Mick's hum of warning.  She understood his hesitancy; to help one of the popular kids' victims was to get their attention and become a victim yourself.  But still…

The kid on the ground was scrambling for something.  Alex crouched near the boy and asked, "What are you looking for?  Glasses?"  The dark head lifted and glanced her way, giving Alex a clear view of strong features, a broad, friendly face, and milky-grey eyes that didn't focus on her at all.  The boy was blind.

"Staff," the boy admitted quietly.  Alex, grateful he didn't notice she was gaping, glanced about until her eyes lighted on a light-brown wooden quarterstaff tired at one end with a piece of green felt.  Grabbing it, she tapped it lightly against one of his hands.  He slipped a hand about the staff, then pushed himself to his feet as Alex got up.  "Gracias, the boy whispered, then left.  Alex watched the boy seek out his way as the final bell rang, swinging the staff out in front of him.

"Well, congrats," came a voice from behind Alex.  She whirled into a defensive stance before realizing it was only Mick.  Who had his arms crossed and one eyebrow cocked so high if half-disappeared into his brown bangs.  Alex gave him a violet-eyed glare.  Mick smirked.  "You not only have been targeted by the populars as and gangers as a sentimental wuss," the teen commented, "but also saved one person who couldn't even put two words together.  Some thanks, huh?"

"Mick, the guy needed some help, so just stuff it, will you?"

Mick sighed.  "Alex," he murmured, "you can't always save these people.  Sometime someone's going to pound you into the ground."

"Yeah, like that's going to hap-"

"Alex!"

"I'm not about to let myself get beat up."  Alex said with a cocky smile.

Mick shook his head.  "It doesn't work like that."

Alex smiled softly at the ex-ganger.  "Thanks for the worry, Mick, but I'll be fine.  Really!" she said as Mick started to protest.  "Now, feel like some ice cram?"

Mick sighed again, clearly seeing his friend wouldn't agree with him.  "Sure, why not?  But you're paying!"

Alex laughed and began to drag Mick in the direction of Net Zone, the cyber-linked bakery-café favored by most of the school.  Backpack slung over one shoulder, she glanced back to Mick and noticed an annoyed jock in red coming their way.  "Um, Mick, is there a reason why Sean Paret is coming our way?"

Mick groaned, rolling his gray-green eyes.  "Figures…"

"Did you do something to him?"

"No, I swear, I-!"

A large hand fell on Mick's shoulder and dug fingers into sensitive nerves.  "Hey Mick," Sean said. "Remember that chem project we were redoing today?"

Mick covered a wince and gave the larger boy a cold stare.  "That was tomorrow, I thought," Mick commented.  To Alex's surprise, her friend had shifted stance from casual to a ganger's ready pose.  What the hell was going on that Mick was reacting like that?

The jock noticed the change too, his eyes narrowing.  "No, it's now.  Are you coming?" he asked, voice taking on an edge.  His eyes darted toward Alex, narrowed, then snapped back to stare at Mick.

Alex decided to deal with this now.  "Mick, it's cool, really," she told the boys loudly.  "Projects gotta get done.  See ya later, huh?"

"But we haven't been able to hang out since…" Mick trailed off, knowing how lonely his best and only friend had been.

"It's fine, Mick," Alex murmured, giving him a shove and a wan smile.

One corner of Mick's mouth quirked up.  "You rule, you know that Allie-girl?"

"If you call me that one more time I swear your-"

Mick held his hands up in surrender.  "Sure, Allie," he said, walking backwards as fast as he could with a broad grin on his face.  Alex stuck out her tongue, then whirled and started out for home, the boys; laughter in her ears.

Swinging out into the parking lot, Alex sighed.  Mick had a point; they hadn't done anything together out of school for almost three weeks now.  He was always doing some project or at work after school, or some popular kid would swoop down on him.  "Please don't let him be in trouble," Alex whispered to any god that would listen.  It had only been a few months ago that Mick had left the gang he'd been in for years.  As a result, not only had most gangers started hating him, but some people were blackmailing him in order to get favors.  Some of those kids were now nursing bruises and black eyes from the skinny blond girl.  Alex grinned at the memories.  Mick had taught her some of those moves…

However she worried about her only friend, Mick seemed to be alright.  Besides, he could handle himself.  Glancing longingly at Net Zone as she walked by it, Alex continued on her way home.

~*~*~

Mick watched Alex as she walked off alone.  "You know what?" he said over his shoulder to Sean.  "This is crap."

Sean rolled his eyes at the ex-ganger.  "Whatever, MC.  You didn't have to accept the job, you know."

"First, my name is Mick.  I don't go by MC anymore and you know it.  Second, no one asked me if I wanted to be the damn Green Ranger!"

"Back down, Green.  I'm the leader, remember-"

"I know, Red-"

"And I'm not listening to your crap.  Central Chamber, now."

Sean teleported away in a streak of ruby light.  Mick sighed, then tapped a button of the watch on his wrist, disappearing in a column of brilliant green.

~*~*~

"Hey idiot!"  Alex screamed at the car blazing past her on the sidewalk.  "That's what roads were made for!"  Of course, the driver ignored her and the insults of the others in the neighborhood, at least until Lyle Maltho threw a fireball at one tire.  As Alex watched, the car's tire popped and spun the car into the cement mailbox the Burrels seemed to have put up for just that purpose.  The driver, a grungy man in a trenchcoat, jumped out and started a cursing spree like many Alex knew.  The other neighborhood kids knew the drill too, and waited until pimply Tim Burrel walked out.  The boy studied the screaming louse.  Suddenly the man collapsed into his car, dead asleep.  Tim pulled out a cell phone and made his usual call to the police as he stuck a hand into the sleeping man's trenchcoat and pulled out his wallet.  Alex continued past the scene with a nod to Tim and continued to her house, just on the other side of the Malthos' peeling, puke-green house.

"Alex!" Lyle called. "So…?"

The girl glanced at the dark-haired teen.  "Your aim was good on that one."

"Yeah, of course, but what about-"

"I'm not going to help you cheat on that test and I'm not dating you either!"

"Right, Alex, you-"

"Hey, you wanna try making me?" Alec shouted, shifting into a streetfighter's pose.

"Nah," Lyle commented.  "Not worth it."  Alex gave a rueful smile and entered her house.

Like every other house on the block, Alex's home was a dusty two-bedroom flat that had been nice thirty years before, although Alex debated whether it had ever counted as nice.  Padding across the gray tiles of the front hall, Alex headed for the small door leading to the basement and her room.  With luck she wouldn't see her dad or…

"Hello, Alexandra," a cool soprano voice wafted form a room down the hall.  As Alex turned, another girl stepped out into the hall and stared at her.  The girl was a near-mirror image of Alex, with the same curly gold hair, slim frame, and delicate features. The only differences between the two lay in the other girl's blue eyes, neat clothing, and lack of scratches.

"What do you want, Selena?" Alex asked her twin wearily.  She remembered a time when 'Lena would play along with her, but that time was before she "grew up".  Which translated in Alex's mind as "got stuck up".

"Do you have any idea who you beat up today?"  Selena said. "That was Carlos, stupid.  He has a gang at this command and now he hates our guts."

"He was being a-" Alex began.

"I don't care, Alex!  I try so hard and now because of you and your lowlife ganger boyfriend-"

"Mick's not my boyfriend!"

"Like I care, but now Carlos is dragging my group to his side because you embarrassed him with your stupid heroics for your-"

"Mick is not my boyfriend, Selena!"

"Yeah, he's the only one who will have you."

"At least I would stick to only one guy, Lena."

Selena's blue eyes went steel hard.  "You-"

Alex whirled and ran down to the basement, locking the door on the way down.  Fights with Selena always ended the same way, with Alex leaving before their father could come and take Selena's side again.  For whatever reason, he always took the older twin's side.  Alex figured Selena reminded him of Mom, although she had no clue.  All she had of her mother was a picture of her parents' wedding and a vague memory of warmth and movement.  Marie Castan had died during the birth of her twin girls.

Running past the vibrating, growling boiler, Alex entered the small storage space she had claimed as her room after a final fight with Selena and Dad made her consider ways of avoiding them.  Crammed behind a thin faux-wood door, the space was almost entirely taken up by a mattress with a puffy violet quilt and a pile of multicolored crates containing Alex's wardrobe and collection of fantasy books. Flipping the switch of the extension cord she had fed through a hole in a corner of the kitchen floor above, Alex smiled as her collection of small lights lit the room in shades of red, white, blue, and purple.  Alex closed the door, slipping the bolt lock she had added closed.  "Sanctuary," the girl whispered, then giggled at her relief.  She bounced onto the mattress, sparing a glance to the photos perched precariously on the red juice crate nearest her bed.  One showed a dark blond man with sharp gray eyes holding a beautiful gold-haired woman in a satiny white dress.  She smiled at the man with a brilliant light in her blue eyes.  _I guess, _Alex thought to the woman_, you never knew how Dad would turn out, did you Mom?_

The picture next to it seemed to multiply the tears that had somehow appeared while Alex looked at her mother.  In it, a trio of kids mugged for the camera, two blond girls and a small boy with brown hair.  The boy bore a wide daredevil grin and clutched a slingshot in one muddy hand.  A typical pose for Dare, who had been Alex's best friend from when she was two to when she and Lena moved away at age seven.  Muddy had never been an unusual state for Dare or for her, but that picture came from a time when Selena would play too.  Only in that picture could one see Selena covered in mud with a broad smile on her face.

A soft chirrup came from something under the mattress.  With a grin, Alex pulled out a small laptop.  She had scavenged it and the parts to jury-rig from assorted stores, and now it was her favorite possession.  It was by the laptop ( and a cord running from the computer to the mass phone lines via the kitchen door) that she got to talk to anyone she liked other than Mick.  Not that she knew who those people were.  The soft sound told her one of her friends was on.  Alex logged on.

Angel13: Hey out there!

Zguy:  Hi Angel.  You just missed Noah.

Alex sighed.  Noah was a cheerful, intensely smart individual who had helped Alex with homework more than once.  He asked the strangest questions, about holidays and parks and school.  Still, his presence always resulted in funny conversations.

Z, on the other hand, was quieter, with a wry sense of humor and a lot of insight.  He usually had Alex rolling with his comments on popular people, bullies, and school.  He also seemed not to mind gangers.  There was only one issue: he always seemed tired and sad, often lonely. Sometimes Alex wondered what could make someone like Z so sad.

M-rat2: hiya angel! how are things? have u been outside? it's real pretty today J

Alex laughed.  That was entirely like Mallrat!  Alex had yet to see a single insult or sad thought from her.  And Mallrat was most definitely female; she chattered about the dresses she bought, the boyfriends she had, and once about feminine issues that embarrassed Z almost to leaving.  Still, she had stopped when she embarrassed them.  She was just sweet, a little ditzy, and honestly caring.  She was the one to soothe the hurt feelings of the group.

Zguy: Spy's here too.

Spywind011: Hello.

Spy was probably the most reserved of Alex's new friends.  Spy could have been male or female and one couldn't know.  He said little, but what advice he gave was always excellent.  He also seemed to appreciate the banter between the others.

And so the conversation turned to the online self-defense course they all took.  It was how they had met, discussing a difficult move that had caused all of them but Spy great pain and bruises.  With Spy as their tutor, the other four had improved tremendously and all grown close.

"Alex!" a voice roared.  The girl jammed the laptop shut and under her mattress.  The door began to rattle as her father thumped a fist against it.  Running to the door, Alex unbolted it and dodged as her father half-fell through the door he opened.  Alex shifted back nervously into the hall, feeling the boiler's heat on her back.

Falone Trent slowly got to his feet.  Not the most impressive man in stature, he was still a vicious fighter due to more than forty years living in bad areas.  And, as Alex knew too well, Dad was a mean drunk.  Drunk was his usual state, too.

"What the hell's a lock doin' 'ere?!" the balding man roared at Alex.  "You snorting stuff here, got stolen goods?  That's it!" Falone screamed as the girl nervously shook her head.  He shoved over one of the milkcrates and began shuffling through her clothes.

Alex violently regretted leaving her room.  "Dad, stop!" she screamed, moving back toward her room.  She stopped in the doorway just short of her father's flailing arms.

Falone whirled from where he had shuffled through a fourth crate, his arms swinging leadenly.  Gray bloodshot eyes glared at the blond girl.  With a sudden lunge, he grabbed Alex hard about the wrist and swung her onto the mattress.  Alex hissed as a sharp corner of her laptop poked her through the mattress.  Tromping towards her, Falone raised his fist and began to pound Alex.

Alex suppressed a whimper as she curled up to protect herself.  Please, gods, help me! Falone yanked her hair, forcing Alex's face up toward him.  The girl closed her eyes just before her father's fist hammered into her cheekbone.  That's going to hurt like-

The fists stopped.

Opening one eye, Alex peered out from behind the safety of her arms.  Falone stood stiffly, staring at the photo of him and his dead wife at their wedding.  He glanced briefly at Alex, who despite herself shifted back into a guard position.  With something resembling a sigh, Falone shuffled away out the door.  As Alex listened, his slow, heavy steps made the steps creak, then moved on in the direction of his room.

Not about to lose the benefit of this break, Alex quickly changed into a long-sleeved purple shirt to cover her new bruises and quietly crept up the stairs and out the kitchen door.  Jumping several fences and dodging unhappy neighbors, Alex hitched a ride on the back of the bus at stop 64, heading to Ryodin Park.

The Park was a combination of two reserves, one coastal and one wooded.  Although some of the area had paved trails, much of it was left wild.  As far as Alex knew, every kid at the high school had a favorite spot at the Park, but she was the only one to favor Kazi Cliff

Jameson Cliff had received the name of Kazi Cliff (short for Kamikaze Cliff) after a girl knocked herself and her cheating boyfriend off the cliff.  Ever since, anyone hoping to make a point by suicide jumped off Kazi Cliff.  Despite the reputation of the place, it was beautiful.  Grass led almost to the edge of the sheer seacliff and a single ancient tree with branches spread far beyond the cliff's edge stood proudly as the highest point on the coast.  Looking over the side of the cliff, the half-submerged rocks were lit by the crests of the waves.  Only once had Alex met another person there; a boy had planned to jump off the cliff, but Alex had talked him out of it.  No one else came to Kazi Cliff.

It was almost sunset when Alex came to the cliff, the clouds heavier than that afternoon. She settled, her back against the tree and her head resting on one hand.  "How the hell should I deal with him," Alex whispered as her cheek gave a twinge.  The sound of the waves drowned out her words as a breeze tangled her hair.  The girl sighed, tilting her head up to the odd patterns of the branches.

            Suddenly she froze.  Was that a glint up there?  "Weirdness," Alex comented.  "No one comes up here.  So how are you there?"  The glint seemed trapped in the branches.  Getting to her feet, Alex began shimmying up the tree trunk, thanking the gods again for the long limbs that made her tree-climbing habit so _easy_.  She had climbed this tree so often…

            At ten feet above the ground, she stopped and searched for the object that had caught her eye.  To her surprise, it was still fairly high overhead.  "Now how did you get that high?" Alex laughed and moved up another four branches.  It was two branches higher, she saw.  Alex stepped up to the next branch.  It gave a little at her weight, making the girl grab the tree trunk.  _What… I'm not that heavy! Alex thought.  Still, the glint was just down the branch…_

            Curiosity and stubbornness won.  Alex grabbed the branch above her and shuffled out farther on the branch.  It bowed further beneath her weight, but she was almost there.  _I'm not stopping here! Alex thought firmly.  One foot farther.  Her fingers wrapped around a metallic object, strangely warm.  Alex laughed aloud as the warm feeling tingled down her arm.  Somehow, the feeling made her think everything would be fine._

            The branch dipped further as Alex laughed, then let loose with a sharp crack.  Alex gasped in shock as she fell…

            Past the edge of Kazi Cliff.

            The rocks were coming to her very fast.  Alex stared at them with detached interest.  _So this is how I die.  She closed her eyes just before the world was enveloped in violet light._


	2. Explanations

Author's Note:  Hello again.  May this explain some things.  Stars bless!   _StarWitch

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            "Umph."

            Alex opened her eyes.  She would have thought that hurtling a few hundred feet through the air to be speared on sharp rocks would have hurt more.  Her back hurt some, and her hand gripped something that sent warm tingles up her arm, but otherwise she was fine.

            "Get the hell off me!" a voice growled beneath her.  In shock, Alex rolled over and landed on a cold, flat surface.  Her eyes revealed an annoyed, dark-skinned Hispanic boy clad in blue.  He barred braces-bound teeth at her before apparently deciding it was too undignified.  Then he just scowled.  As he got up, Alex thought she heard him whisper, "Idiotic brat."

            Alex stared about.  She lay on her back on a metallic floor in a metallic room.  Numerous consoles rose around her, blinking in all colors.  A metal cot lay in a corner of the room.  A wide viewscreen occupied most of one wall.  Alex grinned, imagining a videogame on that wall.  She could see one door, closed.  Alex sat up, then settled back, groaning as her vision darkened.  "Um," she asked, her eyes closed, "this isn't heaven, is it?"

            A snort made her open her eyes again.  The boy she had landed on stood toying with a console, one arm wrapped protectively around his ribs.  He didn't even glance at her as he drawled in an accented voice, "Sure, dimwit.  And I'm head god."  Alex stuck out her tongue at the boy, not that he noticed.

            A soft swish to her right made Alex whip her head around, then gasp as flashing lights entered her vision.  Before she could see the newcomer, a klaxon went off and a girl started screaming.

            The blue-clad boy whirled and began yelling at a still-blurred figure about breaking his concentration again.  Alex squinted in the direction of the tearful response, slowly making out a pale, black-haired girl in a sleeveless pink dress.  Wide blue eyes stared at Alex, her pretty face contorted by screaming.  As Alex watched, Blue Boy began shaking Pink Girl by the shoulders, making her screams change into hiccups.  The door hissed again and a beautiful girl with long brown hair and yellow clothes ran n, almost colliding with Blue Boy.  There was a slight flush to her café au latte skin, as if she had run down the hall as well.  Alex groaned.  She knew this girl; Elle Tanner was one of the most popular, stylish girls at school.

            She apparently had some brains, too, for she glanced at Alex, scowled, and grabbed Pink and Blue before Alex could respond.  "She's not a dangerous intruder!" Elle shouted.  The two in her grasp froze and stared at Alex, who gave a limp wave.

            The door gave a swish, releasing Sean Paret, Elle's boyfriend, and Mick.

            "Mick?! What the hell is going on here!" Alex yelled, sick of the bickering and surprises that had started on Kazi Cliff.

            Sean ran over and clamped a hand over Alex's mouth, then glanced up to Elle.  Alex tried to bite him, making the jock curse, but not let go.  Giving a roll of the eyes, Alex spat into his hand.

            Sean jerked his hand away and wiped it on his jeans.  "You," he informed Alex, "are disgusting.  What the hell are you doing here?"

            "I don't know," Alex retorted, "annoying you?"  Her gaze flipped over to Mick, who had stopped dead in the doorway, where the doors now were trying to close around him.  "Mick?  You okay?"  Alex asked.

            Mick snapped back to himself, his green eyes going hard and flat.  "How did you get here and what's in your hand?" the boy said coolly.

            Alex froze, staring at her friend's icy eyes.  "I, Mick… I dropped off Kazi Cliff after a branch I stood on getting this broke," she said, holding out her hand.  A silvery watch with purple trim lay in it, the most obvious features being two small black and one large purple button laid out beneath the time.

            Before she could see more, a hand swiped the watch out of her grip, making the warm tingles disappear.  "Hey!" the blond shouted, her hand shooting up to grab Mick's leather jacket, "That's mine!"  Growling at the loss of her watch, Alex surged upward and nearly toppled over from vertigo.  Alex latched onto Mick's bony shoulder for support, then flung an arm out for the watch.  "Mick, you idiot," she hissed, "I want my watch back!"

            Mick shrugged, making Alex dig nails into his coat.  "Just a moment, Alex," Mick said absently as he lightly touched the purple button.  A green aura flared around him, bathing the room in eerie emerald light.  Alex let go, backing up a few steps.  Had she just seen her watch glow purple?  And why was Mick green?  Why had she woken up this morning?

            A light hand on her shoulder made her jump.  Pink Girl gave Alex a shy smile.  "Don't worry, it will be fine," she said in a girlish voice.  "Or, at least, it should be fine."  Alex nodded wanly.  _Yeah, right…_

            Elle and Sean had yanked the watch away from Mick and were conferring quietly.  Blue Boy stalked back to his console, ignoring the rest of us.  At least until he commented, "No spells, potions, or other traces of alien magic about her."

            The whole group sighed as Alex took another step back.  Sean turned from Elle to her and tossed her the watch.  "Congrats, Violet," the boy said.  "You're a Power Ranger." 

            "First, my name is Alex, not Violet.  And second, WHAT? I'm no Ranger!"

            Mick tried to edge between Alex and Sean, but wass shoved back by the jock.  "Now look," Sean said with a scowl, "you may not like it, and I sure don't like it, but you're a Ranger.  And, that is a morpher.  It's violet.  You're the Violet Ranger."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Get it yet?"

            Alex wrinkled her nose at the boy.  "Why not Purple Ranger?"

            "Violet sounds cooler."

            "Oh."

            As Alex watched, Sean, Elle, Pink, and Blue walked out.  Mick sighed as he walked past Alex.  "Welcome to the team," he said softly, shaking his head as he walked out the door he had come from.  Alex stared and gave herself a pinch.  It hurt.  Shaking her head, Alex followed through the door the others had left by.  It revealed a long hallway in the same metallic color she was getting truly sick of (hadn't they heard of posters at all? It was like the school halls.) with far too many doors.  Some rooms had assorted bars of colors and numbers, but half weren't labeled at all.  Alex kept to the wall and continued down the hall.  Voices drifted from an open door.  Alex crept beside the door and froze.  They were talking about her.

            "I can't believe some fucking bitch like her got a morpher."  The arrogant bass voice had to be Sean's.

            "Takes one to know one."

            "Shut up, MC!"

            "MC was my ganger name, Sean.  I don't go by that anymore.  Got it?" Mick's voice rose.

            "Do you two have to fight?" a breathy soprano voice whimpered.  "I hate when you do."

            Two male sighs.  "Sorry, Hannah."  Alex ducked her head in thought, making sure to say out of the sight of those in the room.  _Hannah…_ Her mind clicked.  Hannah Martins was on of the quieter cheerleaders in Elle's group.  Hannah had to be the Pink Ranger.

            _Wait, _that's_ the Pink Ranger?  We're screwed!_

            "And you Marcos, why didn't you sound the alarm?  She shouldn't have been there!" Sean thundered.

            "Well," came the voice of an annoyed Blue Boy, apparently Marcos, "she obviously wasn't dangerous. She wasn't under a spell.  She's not one of Darklord's minions.  So why should I have set off the alarm?  Besides," he paused.  "Hannah set it off anyway."

            "I cannot believe this," a clear alto voice stated.  "This is crazy.  And I am late to track.  Bye."  The voice became slightly sugary.  "Later Sean."  Before Alex could hide, Elle sauntered out of the room.  The yellow-clad beauty, the Yellow Ranger, gave Alex an icy stare.  "Maybe someone should show Violet the ropes," Elle proclaimed, making the other Rangers come to the door.  Sean, who had been scowling before, now looked ready to explode.  Marcos looked annoyed, where Hannah just looked nervous.

            Alex whirled.  "I can find my own f-" she began.

            "And I'll help," Mick broke in.  He began yanking Alex to a door with a bar of green across it at eye level, ignoring Alex's complaints as Marcos started laughing.   The door swished open to reveal a surprisingly comfortable room done in green and brown.  With a final shove, Mick pushed Alex into the room and the door shut behind them, cutting off Marcos's laughter.  Mick began to toy with a panel next to the door just as Alex's muscles gave out.  She plopped onto a green beanbag chair in a corner and stared at her friend.  With a final sigh, Mick turned to Alex, grabbed a pillow off the bed, and dropped down across from her.  "So," he asked, "um… Questions?"

            Alex tried to stuff back a laugh, which instead became a snort, making Mick start laughing.  The two slumped on their pillows, Alex curled into a giggling ball and Mick holding his head with his hands, unable to get air.  "Wow," Mick choked, "stupid question, huh?"  Alex nodded, finally relaxing into the beanbag chair.  "Well, what do you want to know?" Mick asked.

            Alex sighed.  "For one, morpher.  And who the heck Marcos is.  And where we are.  And the way out.  And since when were you a Ranger? And didn't Elle and Sean hate Rangers anyway? And-"

            "Can I start answering yet?" Mick complained.

            Alex's mouth quirked into a half smile.  "So?"

            Mick settled crosslegged on the pillow.  "We're in the Central Chamber, home base of the Power Rangers," he began.  "Actually in my room.  We each picked out a place in here, for when we want away time or need to heal.  I'll help you find a place later, okay?  And I've been the Green Ranger four months now."

            "No way," Alex said with a jerk.  "I would have noticed!"

            "You weren't supposed to," Mick said with a shrug.  "All those projects I had, well…"

            "Oh."

            "I told you, you weren't supposed to notice," the boy said. "Marcos Valdez is the Blue Ranger.  He's from our school too." 

            "The invention boy-prodigy of the school?  The brainiac?  That Valdez?"

            "See, you do know him," Mick quipped, then ducked a pillow flung at him before hitting Alex with another.

            "Right, idiot!" Alex snorted.  "Um, morpher?"

            "Where did you find one anyway?  I know they choose their owners in weird ways, but how did you get yours?"  Mick asked.

            "The watch?" Alex asked.  Mick nodded. "I saw something in the tree at Kazi Cliff, climbed to get it, branch broke, fell off cliff, I'm here," Alex explained as Mick's face grew paler.

            "You okay? Falling off Kamikaze would be…" Mick shook his head, studying her with quick, worried eyes.

            "Sure," Alex quipped lightly.  "Just another of my list of possible nightmares.  But seriously Mick."  She leaned toward the boy.  "It's a watch.  What's a morpher?"

            "That's a morpher, Allie.  Small black button on the left is communications.  Think of someone with a communicator, press the button, and it's like walkie-talkies or somethin'.  The one on the right is teleportation.  Think of a place clearly, press button, and you're there.  Be careful though.  You don't want to rematerialize inside of something or freak out the teachers materializing in your desk.  Right?"  

Alex grinned at the image.  "You sure I can't…?"

            "Don't let me get caught with you," Mick said with a grin.  "I know I can't stop all of it.  And, last, the purple button lets you morph."

            "Okay," Alex murmured, then glanced up.  "But didn't Elle and Sean hate Rangers?"

            Mick's grin grew wicked.  "Mostly just the Green and Blue Rangers after stuff appears in their beds and lockers.  Or the entire Ranger setup.  But mostly Blue and Green."

            Alex started laughing. "You…"

            The screech of a still-annoying klaxon drowned out the rest of her statement.  Alex winced, her shoulders schrunching to try to cover her ears.  Mick gave what looked like a dramatic sigh (she couldn't hear enough to tell for sure), then leaned forward.  "Hannah pulls that alarm about three times a day," Mick said, breath warming her ear.  "Ignore it."  Alex glared.  Mick's lips gave a half-smile.  He padded over to a table next to his bed and returned with a pair of earplugs. Alex grinned.

            The door swished open and Sean ran in.  He leaned between the two other Rangers and yelled, "Real one.  Marcos shuts off the damn alarm and we go."

            The klaxon stopped.

            Sean gave a superior smirk.  "Go."

            Alex rolled her eyes, then walked slowly out the door and to the left.  Sean walked out into the hall.  "Hey!" he shouted, "Wrong way mini-bitch!"

            Alex growled at the jock, "We're on the same friggin' team, so don't call me that."

            "Sure, bitchette."

            Alex threw a punch at Sean's nose, making him back up, turn, and head for the center room at a speed just under a run.  A stifled snort made Alex glare.

            Mick dragged his sleeve away from his mouth, gave a low chuckle, and walked briskly toward the center room.  Alex gave him a light shove as he passed, then followed.

            The giant viewscreen covered one wall with pictures of a brown and purple snake slowly crushing a building.  Sean glared at the screen, as if his anger alone would kill the beast.  Marcos watched the screen with mild interest, like a movie.  Mick studied the creature with tired, troubled eyes, while Hannah turned away as a small figure fell from the building.  Alex stared.  The monsters never seemed so big before.  "Um, how are we supposed to fight that thing?" she asked.

            Sean's glare switched to her.  "Fight it. Duh."

            "How are we supposed to do that?  Kicks would tickle it!  Unless the Rangers have Godzilla stashed somewhere?" Alex said.

            "Duh no," Sean snorted.  "Godzilla isn't real."

            Alex shook her head.  "Color-coded superheroes aren't supposed to be real either." 

            "Power up! Red!" Sean belted.

            "Huh?" Alex said as the other teens stiffened.

            "Green!"

            "Pink!"

            "Blue!"

            The steel room flared into color, then faded again.  Alex stared.  She had seen the color-coded body armor of the Rangers on the news before, but never this close before and never knowing what lay under the armor.  She had always thought the Rangers were some sort of androids, while the news always said they were some sort of hostile aliens. _Well, they got the hostile part right…to others of their kind, anyway._

            Four helmets turned her way.  She could sense Sean's glare from behind the blank surface.  There had to be a trick to it…

            Her hand came to rest on the purple button on her wa- _morpher_. "Violet," she whispered.  

Alex's vision was invaded by violet light.  Her eyes cleared to leave her staring at violet gloves trimmed in white, one still resting on the wrist of the other.  Alex shrugged, then glanced up.  "It worked," she commented to the Rangers. "Now where to?"

"Where the fight is," Mick said with a shrug.

Five columns of light blazed, then left the Rangers legal district just in front of the city courthouse.  Alex only got a glimpse of the pile of people holding the doors shut against a swarm of metallic creatures trying to shove the doors open when a ninja-like figure dropped in front of her and kicked her feet out from under her.  "Hey, foul!" Alex yelled.  The creature, black-clad with chains around its waist and neck, wrapped arms about her neck and squeezed.  The girl gagged, then jerked a knee into the creature's crotch.  No response at all.

            _It's not male, then_.  Alex slammed a fist into the thing's chest, making it let go of her.  Rolling to her feet, the Violet Ranger snapped a hard punch to the ninja's head.  A dark cloud of smoke surrounded the thing, then dissipated, leaving Alex staring at a pile of silver sand.  She didn't get a chance to consider it though as another thing jumped on her back.  She threw it, then flung herself into the fight again with a trilling war-cry.

~*~*~

            Darklord leaned against a water cooler atop one of the legal buildings, observing the new Ranger.  He had the other five Rangers pinned, in fighting styles at least, and they add this one.  The shapeshifter shifted as a stiff breeze whipped past his skin-covered wings.  He didn't particularly like this humanoid form, but it reassured his son, who sat on the edge of the building, kicking his legs off the side.  Darklord had done well with the blond boy, all the children he could ever claim.  It was the cost of being a rogue shapeshifter, having no children of his own.  Fenrir, however, easily took the place of any annoying blood-child and mother.  Darklord turned crimson eyes on the boy.  The maroon aura of Fenrir's magic blazed, strong, concentrated, and contained.  His magical potential passed up that of most sorcerers Darklord had met, a quality that had attracted him at the boy's birth.  With a bit of brisk manipulation, the hospital had forgotten it should have one more boy child and Darklord had a son.

            "The purple girl's good, really," Fenrir commented, his light baritone voice bringing the shapeshifter to reality.

            "Violet one," Darklord corrected absently.

            "Why violet?"

            "That's how the essence expresses itself and is named in spells.  Purple suggests royalty and violet has no such connection to presumed nobility.  Violet is a trickster, true only to himself and those who gain his respect and trust."

            Fenrir's blond head shifted slightly to the left as he memorized the information, a habit Darklord had given up trying to break him of.  Shaking his head, the shapeshifer placed a hand lightly on Fenrir's shoulder.  "It is time to find Violet's flaws.  We go down," Darklord said.

            Fenrir nodded.  A dark red haze surrounded the two, then faded, leaving the rooftop empty.

~*~*~

            Alex kicked yet another black creature hard in the chest, making it dissolve into a pile of powder.  "Do these things ever stop?"  Alex shouted at the other Rangers.

            "Eventually," Blue Ranger's accented voice responded.  "They can't churn these things out as easily as the machines over there."

            Alex growled.  "The bad guys get all the good stuff, don't they?"  Another two ninjas went down.  Alex stopped and backed away from the Rangers.  "Hey!" she screamed.  "I'm sick of this, so come get me already!"

            Red Ranger jerked.  "She's gonna get killed," he yelled at Green Ranger.  "Get her moving!"

            "She knows what she's doing," Green Ranger called back.  "Wait!"

            Alex grinned under her helmet as the ninjas ganged up on her.  Reaching out a gloved hand, Alex grabbed the arm of one swinging at her and sucked.  A wave of black energy swept from the farthest edges of the mob to the ninja Alex was holding, leaving silver dust in its wake.  Finally only the ninja she held was left, convulsing in dark energy.  Alex let go.  The creature exploded, throwing Alex back onto her rear.

            Pink Ranger crouched next to Alex.  "Are you okay?" Hannah asked.  "That was incredible!"  She gently tugged Violet Ranger to her feet.

            The male Rangers jogged over.  "Transfer-magic?" Marcos commented.  "Using the contact as a current and dragging the darklings' formative magic to yourself, unmaking them.  Correct?"

            "Yeah, you have the idea," Alex said, impressed.  "Why are they called darkl-"

            "Are we getting the snake or debating!"  Red Ranger growled.

            Pink Ranger laid a calming hand on his arm.  "We're coming, Sean."

            "Would you mind waiting?"

            The Rangers whirled toward the strange, echoing voice.  The speaker was a tall man with bat-like wings and short-cropped dark hair.  Calm crimson eyes studied the Rangers.  Behind the man stood a blond teen with maroon eyes and black armor, a slight quirk to his lips as he watched the Violet Ranger.  Alex shifted uncomfortably.  "Let me guess, the bad guys?" the girl whispered.

            Sean stepped forward in the dominant pose Alex had always scoffed at before.  "Bring it on, Darklord!" the Red Ranger called, dragging out a sword from… nowhere?  _Where do we get these from?_ Alex thought.

            A clang nearby caught her attention.  Mick had yanked out two long knives from somewhere and was kicking the armored boy in the stomach.  How had they gotten behind her?!  She wished for a sword to use on the black armored boy, or anything so long as it was pointy.

            Her hand made a drawing motion and suddenly a slender, silvery sword lay perfect in her hand.  "Nice," Alex laughed, grinning, then hefted the sword.  She crept towards the armored figure still busy with Mick, looking for a good spot to stick in a sword.

            A blade whistled at her head, just barely deflected by Alex's involuntary defensive flinch.  A wicked grin burned at her as the blond boy faced off with her.  "Well-met, Violet," he chuckled.

            Alex frowned under the helmet of her Ranger suit.  "Who the heck are you supposed to be?  A role-playing reject?" the girl said.

            The boy laughed again.  "Fenrir, at your service, Vi," he told her with a bow.  Both Mick and Alex attempted to stab him, but Fenrir ducked away, still grinning.  His eyes skimmed Alex's figure, making her twitch.  Fenrir's grin widened.  "Did you want to say something Vi?" e asked cordially.

            "No, just the usual," Alex responded.

            "The usual?" Fenrir looked curious.

            "Yeah, go to hell."

            "Care to go with me?"

            Alex shook her head.  "Sorry, I'm allergic to brimstone.

            "Oh," Fenrir said, shifting his sword to his left hand.  "Too bad.  I suppose you'll have to get used to it anyway."  His right hand whipped towards Alex with a glint that made her brace.

            Mick cried out as the silver knife took him in the arm.

            Alex crouched.  "That was low," she informed Fenrir, the flung herself at the black-clad boy in a fury.  Fenrir sprung back in surprise, but still received a slice along his chest.  He stared down, as if amazed at the slight trickle of violet blood tracking down his armor.  Alex swung her sword back for another blow when suddenly the boy disappeared.  As did the winged man, the large snake, and the machines that blocked the courthouse.

            Alex stood, tired, staring at the spot the boy had stood.  Mick quietly put a hand on her shoulder.  "You okay?" he asked her softly.

            Alex shook her head.  "Mick?" she whispered.  "There's a way out of this, right?"

            Mick sighed.  "No good ones," he admitted.  "I'm sorry, Alex."  He bowed his head. "We should go.  Put the sword away and head back for Central Chamber, okay?" he said.

            Alex nodded.  "Coming."  Mick teleported out in a streak of green.  Alex studied the violet blood on the ground another moment, shivered, then pressed the black button.  She disappeared in a flash of purple light.


	3. Aftermaths

Author's Note:  Sorry I took a while.  Life can be time-consuming.  Also, could anyone do me a favor and beta my stuff?  I need someone to really dice it apart and give me some feedback.  I would be grateful to you unto eternity.  Stars bless you all!      -StarWitch

Aftermaths

            Alex repressed a shudder as the steely walls of the Central Chamber resolved around her.  She was back in her normal clothes, without even a tear to show for the fight.  A light touch on her bruised shoulder made her whirl.

            "Hey!" Hannah yelped as Alex jerked her arm into an odd angle.  "I was only trying to help…"  Her blue eyes squinted.  "And that really _hurts_, Alex."

            Alex sighed, the adrenaline still in her system.  "Sorry," she told the other girl.  "I… I just don't like being touched."

            "Understatement of the year," a male voice growled.  By the time Alex looked up, all three boys were looking away.  The girl shook her head, allowing a soft growl.

            That got a response.  "Could you be any more bitchy?" Sean asked, running a hand through his mussed blond-brown hair.  "Seriously, growling is not going to get you anywhere."  Alex ignored him.  The five Rangers stood there uncomfortably.

            Marcos strode back over to the consoles, taking his seat.  "I'll send a message to Elle, let her know the battle is over," he told the room.  "Alex, I need your help to set up your codes here.  The rest of you, go."

            Sean nodded briskly.  "Great.  Alex," he said, "stay and do what Marcos wants."  He disappeared in a stream of red lights.

            Hannah smiled shyly and gave a tiny wave.  "Um, it was nice meeting you," she said softly.  "Maybe we could go shopping sometime, although tonight I have to baby-sit, so another time?"

            "Sure, some time," Alex said, staring at this strange cheerleader.  "When you're not baby-sitting.  Um…."  The Pink Ranger still stood there, as if waiting for a response.  "Don't let the kids run you over, or something?"

            Hannah gave a sweet smile.  "Thanks, Alex!  Bye!"  Her glowing pink teleport lights disappeared, Alex still staring.

            Mick shook his head.  "Alex, she's a nice person, not a brain-eating alien," he said into the quiet of the room.  "You could be nice, since she's trying."

            "But, shopping?  Mick, do I look like I shop?"

            "You're wearing clothes, aren't you?" he snapped.  "And I'm late for curfew at the Ridge.  Later."  Alex watched with worried eyes as Mick faded into a collection of green sparks, heading toward the Shady Ridge Home for Children.  His home, as much as he hated it.

            "You've known him for a long time?" a clipped Hispanic voice said.  "Guy's got some serious issues."

            "Yeah," Alex sighed, "I know.  Who doesn't?"

            "Well," Marcos said, dismissively, clearly ending the talk.  "You go lie on that bed there.  I have to take some scans."

            "You mean the metal table pretending to be a bed?"

            "Get on it."

            "Sure."  Alex raised her hands in surrender.  "No need to get touchy, Braincase."

            "Screw you."  Silence reigned as a delicate light rippled over Alex's body, Marcos tapping away at the panels.

            "Alex?"

            "Yeah?"

            Marcos turned around.  "Lift up your shirt a moment."

            Alex jerked upright, her hand tugging self-consciously at her shirt hem.  "Like hell am I gonna-"

            "I am not interested in your breasts," Marcos said coolly, making Alex blush helplessly.  "The computer is picking up a lot of bruising around your shoulders and back.  Also more on your head than our fight would produce.  I need to know if the reading is accurate."

            Alex crossed her arms over her chest.  "It is."  She glared at the shorter boy, daring him to comment.  Marcos studied her a moment, then turned back toward his panels and continued tapping at the buttons.  Alex sat tensely on the medical bed, watching.

            Marcos gave a soft, distinct sigh.  "You got one impressive beating recently," the Hispanic boy said.  He turned to face the girl.  "Should you need relief, get one of these," he said as he grabbed a small handheld device, "flip this switch, and run it over any hurt spots."  He tossed her the machine, then returned to his chair.

            Alex pushed up one sleeve and ran the device over a green-brown bruise.  A sharp tingle shivered up her arm, but as she watched, the bruise shrank and disappeared.  She allowed herself a grin and dealt with the rest of her aches.  About to teleport back to the park, she stopped.  "Um, Marcos," she asked, suddenly shy, "you're not going to mention this?"

            The Blue Ranger didn't even turn around.  "None of my business."

            Alex nodded, still unsure what to make of this weird boy.  "Um, thanks.  Bye, Marcos."

            "Bye."

            One teleport later, she found herself on Kazi Cliff, back at the tree where she had found the morpher.  Slumping against the roots, she shivered as the cold sea breeze and the loss of energy from the fight reached her.  The laughing red eyes of Fenrir still haunted her in the red of the sunset, and yet…

            _He bleeds purple, like some sort of monster, _Alex told herself_.  He obviously kills, and he pegged you, and you know it.  And if it comes to me or him…_

_            Human or not, it's definitely him finding out if he likes brimstone._

~*~*~

            Marcos sighed in relief as the familiar zip of teleportation took Alex out of Central Chamber.  No, he wasn't about to mention to anyone that Alex was clearly abused.  Any more than he would mention Mick's paranoid and vaguely kleptomaniac tendencies, Sean's insecurity about everything that caused him to act bigger and stupider than he would be otherwise, Elle's determination to be queen of the planet, or the fact that Hannah cried on a nightly basis into a pink princess pillow about how horrible the world was and how lost she felt.  It wasn't his matters.  It wouldn't change a thing, even if he did tell.

            "Now, as for the more important matters," Marcos said aloud.  The Central Chamber could be slightly eerie when only the machines made noise, causing echoes down the metallic halls.  Since he began Rangering, he had taken to talking to fill up the extra space.  It was just his form of insanity, if anyone cared.  It seemed less ridiculous now.  His project for the Science Fair this year required voice recognition, and the more he talked, the better it recognized him.  "So, A.Z.," Marcos asked his newest program, "what are we learning today?"  A quick check reassured him the search program was working beautifully.  Now he just would have to program in some basic knowledge.  Long and time-consuming work as it was, Marcos would have it no other way.

            Being a Ranger had let him gain access to an incredible supercomputer twenty-four-seven.  He needed nothing more.

~*~*~

            Mick whacked his head against the barred window again, wishing the stupid bars would give.  It wasn't like he would try to escape tonight, what with his arm still sporting a nice red puckered line from Fenrir's knife. _At least the knife wasn't poisoned this time…_

            This entire set-up was wearing on him the longer he stayed.  Maybe he'd grown too used to living with a gang.  No curfews, no rules, and no questions easily offset having no privacy and a general fear of bringing Alex near a pile of guys who believed in rape.  It wasn't like he'd been skipping school either; once he graduated he would be off the street for good.  Even he knew that was the thing to do.  But Alex had insisted he get off the street before then.

            _He was bleeding from the chest heavily, more sluggishly from the arm and back of his neck.  His shirt, balled up against the gash on his chest, was leaking again, leaving red tracks down his ribs and stomach.  The peeling house, gray-green, with a skinny blonde standing in front of it, arguing with a dark-haired, pimply boy just into a growth spurt.  Alex yelling at the boy to open the door to her house, then shutting the door in the boy's face as she rushed Mick to the girls' room.  Settled on her bed, with Alex straddling Selena's, bandaging his chest while Alex dug through the closet for new clothes.  The shirt, emerald green so bright against his usual black jeans, smelling of laundry detergent and a little dust.  It had been one of Alex's sleep shirts, before it became too short for her.  Her wide violet eyes staring at him, so sad.  "Mick, you're going to get killed out there."  He shook his head.  "Don't worry, Allie."  "I'm not Allie, I'm Alex!"  The girl screamed.  "Get off the streets or leave me alone!  I'm not going to cry for another person but me!"  A shivering ball of anger and tears on Selena's bed.  Mick's own tears as he and Alex clung to each other, telling every grief they'd known.  And his promise.  He'd stay off the streets for her, and she wouldn't have to cry again. "Deal."_

            Swiping a wrist over his wet eyes, Mick shook his head like a dog spraying water.  Sure he'd made that promise, and he'd keep it, but did it have to be so damn hard! 

~*~*~

            Elle found Sean still on the couch in her living room, drooling on a picture of William the Conqueror in his history book.  Giving a slight smile, she switched the book for a pillow and draped herself across the armchair, kicking her legs over one cushy arm.  Sean looked so sweet asleep, and she knew he wasn't sleeping much.  The "fearless leader" thing took more from him than he'd admit.  Elle had offered to take over, but he refused.  It wasn't her place to take, anyway.  Even if Sean was a sucky leader, he really was a sweet guy and the closest she'd ever come to loving.  She wouldn't take his precious leader position.

            Alex, on the other hand, might be a problem.  The team had already been set up:  Marcos the smart one, Hannah the sweet one who kept them together, Mick strangely useful with his knowledge of mythical creatures (many of which they'd found as monsters from Darklord), Sean the official leader, and she, Elle, as the second-in-command, leading from behind.  Sure, they fought, who didn't?  But here was this Alex, bossy, self-assured to the extreme, and a thorn in everyone's side.  Especially Sean's.  And no one messed with Sean.

            Elle sighed and kicked off her shoes.  Alex did fight well, she gave the girl that.  Fights with darklings usually took much longer and left the Rangers more damaged.  But still, couldn't she be more polite?  She comes in and starts yelling.  And Hannah hadn't even done anything to her, and here Alex was being rude.  Did she have something against cheerleaders?

            Sean let loose a loud, raspy snore.  Elle stuffed her giggles and wished her parents weren't so strict.  Otherwise she'd curl up against his big, warm body on the couch…  Elle grabbed a blue blanket and burrowed under it, laughing to herself as she listened to Sean snore and thought of interesting things to do to Alex during training.


End file.
